Subscription television service is typically provided by cable systems and "wireless TV" over-the-air systems. Wireless TV systems generally transmit the TV signals at microwave frequencies (e.g., in the 2500-2686 MHz band reserved for the Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System) from a "head end" distribution point and provide each subscriber with an antenna and downconverter to access the signal from the head end. The antenna is mounted at each subscriber location and directed towards the head end. To reduce added noise due to long signal paths, the downconverter is sometimes combined with the antenna.
A prior integrated microwave antenna/downconverter which has been offered by California Amplifier, Camarillo, Calif. (part numbers 31545-12, -15 and -18) uses a Yagi type antenna with a downconverter in a separate housing attached to the back of the antenna. The antenna includes a plurality of separate director discs assembled in an axially spaced relationship on a rod which mounts to a backplane member defining a reflector and planar side lobe suppression ears. A receive disc is spaced from the reflector and energy is coupled from the receive disc perimeter with a coaxial cable which is looped to the downconverter. A cup shaped dielectric member provides environmental protection for the receive disc. The combined antenna and downconverter is mounted to a mast with a clamp.
Other related antenna structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,440,658; 4,054,874; 4,118,706 and 4,295,141.